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C. F. WICKER.

STAFF GUN AND PROJE'CTILL APPLICATION mgn SEPT. 2, 19:5.

Patented Aug. 22, 1916.

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STAFF-GUN AND PROJECTILE.

To all whom it may concern: A

Be it known that. 1, Crime Fnniwcn a citizen of the UnitedStates and a resident of WVashington, District}of Col-umbia, have invented. a new-and Improvement in Staff-Gimsand Projectiles, of which the following is a specification; I

With modern methods of trenchwarfare and their consequent use of hand-' grenades, shrapnel or bombs that" are thrownonly short distances, necessity for a compact portable device for relieving the soldiers of this tiresome task has arisen and the present invention is the result thereof. The object of the invention is to first devise a gun for projecting the projectiles that is so light that each soldier may be equipped with one of them, and second, produce a projectile for the gun that Wlll be of maximum size and yet of minimum weight so that no difliculty willbe experienced in the handling of them either by the operator of the gun or in dealing them out to the operators. With this and other objects in view, the invention consists in the combination, arrangement and construction of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims it being understood that I do not intend to limit myself to the details of construction of the .various parts.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a perspective View partly in section showing my stafi' gun in firing position. Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of one form of projectile showing in particular a grooved flange. Fig. 3 is similar to Fig. 2 except it shows the way the flange of the projectile of Fig. 2 will look after firing. Fig. ,4: shows another form of projectile having depending fingers in place of flanges. Fig. 5 is a sectional. view of the device of Fig. 4: taken along the lines-1\55 and is to show a possible form of the fingers. F ig.'6

shows a modified form of stafl gulf as does Specification of Letters Patent.

in most cases byghand, the

Patented Aug. 22, 1916.

' Application filed September 2, 1915. Serial No. 48,657.

which will have a trigger mechanism 14 and a spring 15 coacting therewith. My improved pro ectile is indicated at 16 upon the stafi and consists of a main portion of spherical or other shape having depending solid flange 17 adapted to encircle the Tipper end of the staff when in firing position. The flange 17 forms a recess 18 in which is placed, between the projectile and the end of the stafi, a disk of high explosive 19.

As a modified form of the projectile, it .may be equipped with flange 20' made of some ductile but tough material which may be provided with grooves 21 or equivalent devices forming lines of least resistance.

22 indicates the form the flange 20takes after the explosion takes place.

As another form of projectile, the flanges may bemodified into depending fingers 23 which may be of ductile material similar to the flange 20 or they may be of some rigid material and made in triangular shape in cross section.

The gun 10 of Fig. 1 may be modified from an explosive gun to a. spring gun. as shown in Fig. 6 in which 10 is a staif provided with a hollow interior in which may be located a very strong spring 24 with a compressing mechanism 25 and a trigger mechanism 26.

In operation, the-staff is driven into the ground at the, angle ordered upon which, of course, the range depends. The driving con.- tinues until the engagement of the collar12 with the ground prevents any further driving, the collar being pivoted will adapt itself to any angle that the staff may be to e ground. The firing element is then 100 ed in withdrawn positionand the projectile is fitted over the end of the stafi' as shown in Fig. 1, the explosive disk first being placed on the end of the stafi". Then when it is desired to fire the projectile, it is only necessary to release the trigger mechanism whereupon the firing element is forced upwardly v by means of the spring pressure so that it sets off the explosive disk, However, under certain circumstances it may be necessary to have the disk made of some high explosive, such as, fulminate and in such a case, the solid flanges would be shattered to such an extent that the operator of the gun would be liable to injury. In order to overcome this shattering, the flangesof Figs. 2 and 3 have been devised of some tough ductile material so that when the explosion takes place ingrooves 21, so that stead of shattering, it simply splits the flanges along the lines of least resistance, which may or may not be previously made the flanges are bent outwardly as shown in Fig. 3, with no harm resulting to the operator. In cases Where the explosive would be not quite so violent as fulminate but yet too violent to be withstood by the solid flanges, fingers may be provided on the'projectiie. These may either be of ductile material to bend as the flanges in Fig. 3 or they may be made rigid. In the event of their being rigid they would be made triangular in cross section as shown in Fig. 5 ,with the apices of the triangle pointed inwardly. This leaves room for the explosion to escape ,as shown by the arrows through the spaces 24: between the triangula'r fingers 23 without harming the fingers.

It will thus be seen that the flanges serve in the various capacities of seating means explosion resisting means and guiding means. I do not intend to limit myself to any one of these functions as I may use each or any combination of them.

I consider the flanges and the fingers the equivalent of each other so that Where one is mentioned, it is to be understood that I may substitute the other in its place. This is especially true when it is considered that the flanges result in fingers tit r the explosion and that if fingers are Aged they must be made slightly ductile or' else they will be blown ,ofi' by the explosion;

Undercertain circumstances it may not be desirable to use an explosive gun as shown in Fig. 1, in'vvhich case I may use a spring un as shown in Fig. 6 which would have the advantage of being much lighter and therefore more portable. This would be because its dimensions would not have to be so great as no explosion has to be withstood and also the projectile could be made lighter because it similarly would not have to withstand the. greater pressure of an explosion. The gun in Fig. 6 is provided with a-very strong spring located in a hollowed out portion which may be compressed by any pressing mechanism 25 and then may be released by any trigger mechanism 26 whereby the pro jectile may be projected in al similar to the'gun in Fig. 1 of providing the flanges or projectile, they may be pro ided upon the as at 27 in Fig. ,7 so .at the projectile 16 may fit therebetween ad be retainer upon the gun until projectec therefrom.

What I claim. is: 1. A projectile having sion and gun receiving cavit formed by a depending flange deformable by the explo sion.

2. A projectile having a gmbined explosion and gun receiving ca v ty formed by a depending flange of tough ductile material and weakening grooves on said flange.

again, instead tigers upon the other respects a cot ibined explo- 3. A projectile having a rigid body p01? tion, and a combined explosion and gun receiving cavity bounded by ductile walls.

CYRUS F. WIGKER. 

